The present invention relates generally to apparatus for weighing-out material in a surge bin, particularly asphalt-aggregate material from a collapsible surge bin.
The term surge bin is used in the asphalt industry to designate a bin used for the temporary storage of asphalt-aggregate material between the time it is produced and the time the material is loaded on a truck for transportation to a work site. The surge bin is usually mounted on legs to elevate the bin to a height which permits a truck to be driven underneath the surge bin. A gate in the bottom of the surge bin is then opened and the asphalt-aggregate material falls out of the bin into the truck below.
It is usually necessary or desirable to know how much asphalt-aggregate material is being loaded onto the truck. A prior apparatus for accomplishing this has comprised a scale disposed below the surge bin. A truck would drive onto the scale where it would be weighed empty. The truck would then be filled from the surge bin and weighed again. The difference in the truck's weight would therefore be the weight of the asphalt-aggregate material dispensed from the surge bin. Such an apparatus, although accurate for large loads from fixed surge bins is usually not suitable for portable and/or collapsible surge bins due to the fact that such scales are typically quite large and heavy and are often permanently mounted in the ground.
Another prior apparatus provided a collector between the surge bin and the truck. A quantity of material would be discharged from the surge bin into the collector. The collector would then be weighed and the difference from its empty weight would be equal to the weight of the material dispensed from the surge bin. The collector would then empty the weighed material into the truck. This system is sometimes undesirable because it requires an additional piece of apparatus mounted below the surge bin which thereby prevents or at least hinders the collapsibility of the surge bin. Furthermore, additional pieces of apparatus make the surge bin more difficult to transport.